with ryan in the first place. i get it. romney doesn't want to get dragged down by his political mate's push for getting rid of medicare. he acts like ryan has no hold on him, but it's not the way it works. romney has slowly gotten the word that the voter out there thought the two had things worked out, that romney and ryan were in this thing together. well, they're not. romney is dying. he can't stand being tied to ryan, and all that budget cutting baggage of his. for his part, ryan is feeling the taint of having a running mate who is unwilling to stand with him, unwilling to be his kind of politician. a conviction politician. so trouble in paradise. mitt's dying to be single again, so is ryan. we all know that politics makes strange bedfellows but the word is out this pair, romney and ryan, are sleeping in separate rooms. i'm joined by msnbc political analyst howard fineman and joy ann reid, managing editor of thegrio.com. more polling data that shows mitt romney trailing. let's check the hardball scoring board. according to a new fox news poll, president obama leads romney by

. . >>> romney versus ryan, the divorce. let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with mr. romney's divorce. why did he pick paul ryan for his running mate? certainly not for better or worse. mitt spends his days and nights acting as if he's out there all alone, that he never hooked up with ryan in the first place. i get it. romney doesn't want to get dragged down by his political mate's push for getting rid of medicare. he acts like ryan has no hold on him, but it's not the way it works. romney has slowly gotten the word that the voter out there thought the two had things worked out, that romney and ryan were in this thing together. well, they're not. romney is dying. he can't stand being tied to ryan, and all that budget cutting baggage of his. for his part, ryan is feeling the taint of having a running mate who is unwilling to stand with him, unwilling to be his kind of politician. a conviction politician. so trouble in paradise. mitt's dying to be single again, so is ryan. we all know that politics makes strange bedfellows but the word

and paul ryan, all the way down to thscott browns of the world called for todd akin to gut of that missouri naac w m ari before the republican convention, but now, apparently, now we know how much time outrage wears off in. now republicans have decided they're over all of their concerns about todd akin. here he is doing a press conference last week with newt gingrich. newt gingrich there showg hi sut toki today republican senator jim demint and former presidential candidate rick santorum threw their support behind todd akin. republican senator roy blunt, remember him? the guy who said todd akin has to get out. he put out a statement today saying that now is supporting todd akin. thstatrepuicar tsbout akin after his comments about some rapes being legitimate last month, they now say they're all in for todd akin as well. even the national republican party's sete campaign committee, the guys who said we're done when they were talking about todd aki apparently they are thinking now of not bnge with him anore. so now we know just how offended all of those republicans really were about t

. republicans diluted that there are skewed polls. paul ryan was the latest one to join on the bandwagon last night talking about wisconsin. >> i don't believe that particular poll. i won't get into the methodologies about it. >> they weren't talking about a specific poll in na statement, which sounds like it doesn't matter to him which poll it is but it's tainted. what's your take on this? we've heard it a lot over the last 48 hours. >> look at all the polls. if you go to realclearpolitics.com, for instance, in every poll in every swing state the president is a hit, it's hard to find a poll in a swing state where romney is leading. if you look at the data right now, we're looking at an election that looks more like 2008 than 2004. the president is ahead in almost every swing state, whether you look at gallup pews or pugh poll or nbc news polls, the president is far ahead right now. romney does five points nationally in some big swing state that romney does need a big move in the debates to change the game. anytime a campaign says a poll is wrong, it's a sign they're not doing well from my ex

to be buying what the republicans are offering. when romney picked ryan as vice president, i said my wife, i think romney may have lost the election here. the asonaiat because by picking paul ryan, it opened up that argument of the republican party as extreme and the democrats just pounced on that as you would expect them to do. and the country does not want those extreme ascts of the ghngicican party, those extreme they do realize that's what got us into this trouble both overseas with the war in iraq and also with the economy. and ey are not going for it anymore. the republic no longer believes asd in fieis to help middle to give more money to the rich. so i thought that mitt romney would pivot the middle. he decided not to do that. >> i feel like the country republicans people in the middle and on left want sentially giving a good fight. so we can have a big hashed out discussion about how to fix our problems. i'll be talking more about that later in the show about something that's been left out of the campaign. but i think ev the left is rooting for the republican par to gts t

fact, implied that the sequester that might result in defense cuts that his running mate paul ryan voted for, he implied that would hurt suicide prevention programs for veterans even though the v.a. would be exempt from that, so i'm not sure he even understood what it was he was talking about. but at least he tried. at least veterans got a mention from him. even if it didn't make sense in policy terms. you do know that defense and veterans are two different -- at some point it should be possible with 40 days left to say veterans have to be more than just an applause line. right? you don't just get to use them for a photo op like the decommissioned battleship you used as a backdrop when you introduced paul ryan inexplicably in front of a battleship, another time when you didn't mention the war. even if you're not willing to talk about the war we are in that you would be taking over, veterans are not a hypothetical construct. the way they're treated is not an esoteric consequence of how we feel about them as a nation or how much military spending we have which is how mitt romney desc

, well, look for the union label, america. barack obama and mitt romney and paul ryan have all seen fit to weigh in on this one football game from monday, on the referees issue. all three men saying that the green bay packers deserve to win that game. the packers got robbed. so even as the packers' agony crossed over into national politics this week, i still have to say that it remains true that the single west political green bay packers moment in history, the best moment of all time in the overlap that exists between the green bay packers and politics is still this moment. >> there are 30 teams, but only one packer organization, and that is the greatest football organization ever in america's history. there are only 187 days before training camp. and 360 days before we go back to miami! whereas the packers are america's real team, and we'll always be winners in the hearts and minds of the people of wisconsin, therefore i, tommy thompson, governor of the great state of wisconsin, do hereby proclaim january 27th, 1998, all over wisconsin, green bay packer day in honor of all of you, the

get mitt romney and paul ryan out on the road together because ryan seems to loosen him up a little bit. but then, you know, some people are making fun of what happened in ohio yesterday. let me play that clip for you. >> wow. that's quite a guy, isn't it? paul ryan. isn't that something? >> ryan! ryan! >> wait a second. romney, ryan. romney, ryan. romney, ryan. there you go. i guess the question becomes are people pushing him into something he's not? he got good interviews in. is the trouble in part when romney tries not to be romney? >> yeah, i think it's ironic that they're saying let ryan be ryan. but throughout then tire process, we've really not been 100% clear who mitt romney is, right, because the guy who was governor of massachusetts, had he run as that guy, he would have been more like the guy we saw on "60 minutes." he's been forced to run this eternal primary where he's constantly trying to please the farthest right base of the republican party and so he isn't really being allowed to make what is supposed to be a pivot to a general election candidacy. so i think the prob

it into political fire. paul ryan yesterday as mitt romney's running mate. very unhappy about the replacement reps rob. >> did you guys watch that packer game last night? i mean, give me a break. it is time to get the real refs -- and it reminds me of president obama and the economy. if you can't get it right, it's time to get out. >> paul ryan called the refs out today are. you glad that he did that? >> paul was very angry that the green bay packers won and the referees took it away from him. >> i think a lot of people feel that way, right? the democrats are also paying in on the replay mean your. breaking out an nfl analyst. listen. >> with the football game, no, i did not think it was a touchdown. i thought the pass was down before there was joint progression. and we need to get more serious people in there. >> you can ask this man anything and he has an opinion. and from the former president to the sitting president, this tweet from barack obama, quote, nfl fans on both sides of the aisle, hope the rest of the lockout is settled soon. he also called that call terrible. i don't

. i don't think that's fair. >> meanwhile, paul ryan debuted a power point presentation over the weekend in florida and has now been using charts on the trail since to hammer the president on the national debt at kt ste urs l t, pde decided to mock him for it. >> if they go around as they have in ohio with some board behind them with numbers and saying how it's a moral fici jusask, we duce the explain how the numbers work. >> then the president turned his own gaffe into a hit on romney. >> i want to see us export more jobs. export more products. excuse me. i was -- i was channeling my opponent there for a second. >> this morng the big news is from t obama campaign. they are out with a two-minute television ad that to many will look le aampansu spfilnd the campaign believes frankly that for many voters it is the closing days before voting. voters in 30 states are already eligible to vote. this ad is the last thing the campaign wants the people to see before the debates. this ad airs in colorado, flora,wa nevada, new hampshire and virginia. not north carolina or wisconsin. take a l

heading to theolls on electn i november. >>> paul ryan, a green bay packers fan from wisconsin, chimed in on the referee ruling that cost his team a win monday night. ryan joked,quote, i hal think these refs work part-me f tham aision budget office. >>> mitt romney had kind words for bill clinton yesterday, saying a few nice words from bill clinton can do a lot of good, he said. and he joked that he would wait for his clinton bounce in the polls. s on the "tonight show" with jay leno talking about his husband's plans for america's future and she explained to jay how she feels about mitt running for president. >> four years ago i made a deotape and on the videotape, idttis i for you, and sweetheart, i'm never doing this again. >> well, jay also asked ann romney if mitt is a good dancer. she replied he's gotten to be a better dancer. and that's your morning dish of scrambledti elsewhere, missouri republican congressman todd aiken let the deadline to let the senate race pass yesterday without dropping out. he's bound to stay despite pressure within his own party since his lit mate rape comme

these televised events? what about paul ryan saying this morning the media are rooting for barack obama to win and was it more important for the president to do this -- >> you're very happy that you came on with us, mrs. obama, and brought your date. >> i brought him. he had a few minutes in his schedule. >> i told folks i'm just supposed to be eye candy for you guys. >> -- than to meet with world leaders at the u.n. how do comedians come up with precisely the right way to mock to politicians and others? >> we have a very different plan on how to offer tax relief. >> thanks for spending a few moments with us. you, sir, are great. >> thank you. >> a conversation with daryl hammond. plus the media krieled foul again and again and again when an nfl replacement ref blows a big qaa. we'll blow the was on that high decibel coverage. i'm howard kufrt and this is "reliable sources." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> every day it seems the media is finding new reasons for why romney has fallen behind. as politico said the other day, maybe he's a lousy daenlt. someone commented mayb

paul ryan on the ticket of just supposed to be the thing for the ticket. that is when mitt romney picked up. more than a few republicans wondering why the campaign is not showcasing it ryan now front and center, for a campaign concerned about its base, renewed focus on one guy who still jazzes that base, ryan, get used to seeing him, including this very show tomorrow. paul ryan, my exclusive special guest. charlie gasparino, a lot of republicans have been saying, what took you so long, what to you think? >> well, from what i understand, prominent business republicans, have given a lot of money to mitt romney over the last you know year. and have access to him through direct lior intermedia, voicing their concern he is not using paul ryan enough, and that he is been muzzling paul ryan, this is reached a sort of crescendo, talk it pointed where ryan has had to dispel the rumor or notion, i should say, he has been muzzled. neil: he is speaking everywhere. but media decides if they want tto pay attention. >> but what is he saying? is he taking the fight to president obama, who accordi

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or die. >> you just heard paul ryan say that romney will offer the country a clear choice of two different economic futures. is that what romney needs to do wednesday? is that enough? >> well, i think it would be good to just win the debate. that's my advice to governor romney and it's time to begin panicking a little bit. >> time to begin panicking? but don't worry, governor romney has a solution. zingers. the "new york times" reports that mr. romney's team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing since august. zingers? mr. romney doesn't need zingers. he needs new ideas. he needs a new campaign. truth be told, he needs a new candidate. after all, the guy he's been debating all along has been himself on health care. >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. of course, there are a number of things that i like in health care reform. >> well, of course. i'm going to repeal obama care. i've said that on the campaign trail. i think every single day obama care must be re

campaign message. they're hitting obama hard on this. for example, listen to what paul ryan, romney's running mate, had to say about obama's foreign policy yesterday while campaigning in ohio, zoraida. >> i think the president on too many occasions has deferred our foreign policy leadership to the u.n. security council, to the u.n., this means russia and china get to veto what we want to do. why do we want to give them that kind of clout over our national security interests? >> the goal here is to paint president obama as projecting weakness. ryan yesterday compared the situation in the middle east to tehran in 1979. you know, calling to mind the hostage crisis that helped undermine president jimmy carter's re-election bid. we've heard that many times before, zoraida. we'll see if that works this time. >> both candidates are speaking this morning. what do they hope to accomplish today. >> for the president, being president has -- is both an advantage and burden. the burden as elise mentioned earlier, he has to soothe anxieties both here and overseas about the middle east. bu

don't get dropped by their insurance company. >> reporter: romney and paul ryan plan to cap malpractice insurance. cut medicaid by $810 billion over the next ten years, give states more control over their medicaid funds and overall mediocri medicare. overhaul, people up to age 55 would get a voucher to purchase private insurance or they can stick with traditional medicare. >> this financial support system is designed to guarantee that seniors can always afford medicare coverage, no exception exceptions. >> those are some major differences between the candidates. perhaps the biggest split is over medicaid, not medicare, medicaid, what most people consider the safety net for america's poorest. let's bring in our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. what are the major differences in the way the candidates deal with medicaid? >> i think if you look at the obama-care plan overall, one of the ways he plans to insure a lot more people was to expand medicaid. the way they do that, they raise the poverty level at which people can qualify. the states don't have to do this. th

: romney and his running mate paul ryan propose to cap malpractice insurance. cut medicaid by $810 billion over the next ten years. give states more control over their medicaid funds. overhaul medicare. the overhaul? people now younger than 55, when they reach retirement, would have the option of getting a voucher to purchase private insurance. or they could stick with traditional medicare. >> this financial support system is designed to guarantee that seniors can always afford medicare coverage, no exceptions. >> reporter: while the repeal of obama care would get rid of the prescription drug benefit to seniors, romney doesn't want to take out all of the law's provisions. >> we have to make sure that people who have pre-existing conditions are able to get insured and that folks that get sick don't get dropped by their insurance company. >> reporter: douglas holtz icon, the president of the american action form, he doesn't support the current health care law. >> both sides agree that the amount we spend on medicare has to be capped. they just disagree on how to get there. romney and

ryan. >> did you watch that packer game last night? >> reporter: to the president of the united states. who says -- i've been saying for months, we've got to get our refs back. oh, mr. president, that is a bipartisan plea. roger goodell, the nfl commission sir trying. now from contracts with the once beloved men in stripes. players yearn for their return their mouths are. many are >> what would you give of your own salary to get the real refs back? >> i'm not going to get into that. you know, let the league take care of that. so i try not to worry about that, just worry about the things i can control. >> reporter: what's a fan to do? espn is pushing ten ways to make your outrage known. among them, swear off watching games four games a week. use negative hash tags about the nfl and roger goodell and boo the games you do attend. fan wes tas we talked to were receptive. >> watch something else. >> i'm not watching the thursday night game. tell you that. >> reporter: the sad part, just about everyone agrees the whole replacement ref controversy is getting in the way of our love for

featuring president obama and paul ryan, but is either a game changer? and team romney seized on an unforced error made by joe biden on the campaign trial. >> how they can justify raising taxes on the middle class that's been buried the last four years. >> the middle class in america is hurting. >> the middle class has been buried the last four years. >> kristen welker and peter alexander are with the obama and romney campaigns in these final hours before the first match-up, the debate tonight. we begin with kristen in nevada with the president. the president will travel to colorado in just a matter of hours. good morning. >> good morning. that's right. president obama will take off for denver in just a few hours. i'm told he'll have a little bit of down time with the first lady before the debate. he'll also do a walk through of the venue. here's how it's going to work. president obama will be given the first question. mitt romney will have the final word tonight. the debate will be broken up into six 15-minute segments for a 90-minute debate. it will include three on the economy, o

they are obviously making some head way in that group because of these words. >> paul ryan was given a chance to reach out to the 47% today in a question that he was asked on the campaign trail by a voter who asked about the 47%. ryan of course completely missed that opportunity. and i think really solidified the romney/ryan view of the 47%. let's listen to that question and answer. >> we have 47% of the people of the united states paying no taxes. federal income tax. is there any way that this 47% can pay a nominal fee or something so they feel that they have small ownership in the government and maybe they won't take all the handouts so readily. >> i've got an idea. let's help them get jobs so they can get a good paycheck so then they're good taxpayers. this is the point that mitt and i have been trying to make. and sometimes the point doesn't get made the right way. we don't want a stagnant economy that fosters dependency. >> sometimes the point doesn't get made the right way. jonathan, he sure didn't make it the right way. he says about the 47%, let's help them get jobs. so he thin

had all along instead of trying to pick paul ryan and we are going to have a discussion about the issues. >> marco rubio, you get a sense with paul ryan, that is not giving him a new air of voters coming in. they had barack obama. >> the book is fascinating. there are two categories. when weather forecasters and gamblers. they aren't giving you an exact answer. you know that sometimes your opponent will catch that card and 52 will make them a miracle and beat yours. and your prediction is storm clouds. the met for is not far off. it is about a one in ten chance and if this polls look like this we are looking at a one in ten chance of a real october surprise. he has a window now but the thing is you lose time and if you want to switch to a sports analogy. if obama leads by a touchdown doesn't mean very much. but we are in the 4th quarter and romney may be giving obama something again. nothing impossible about it but you need to catch a couple of breaks. the one good thing, many predictions fail. good to see you. coming up. celebrity power success and the importance of helping other

would really hear a romney ryan push back against the overall numbers in those battleground states. you don't hear that. i don't think they are happy about it. but i think they believe they are running behind and you are seeing some tweaks to the romney campaign >> today iowa game the first swing state to start the voting for the president of the united states. the polls he showed president obama up eight points in that state. now suffolk university poll shows the president at 46%. the president reminded what was said. >> i have always said that change takes more than one term or more than one president. it takes more than one party. i can't happen if you write out half the nation before you take office. >> i don't know how many of you out there will be voting for me. but, i'll be fighting for you no matter what. i'm not fighting to create democratic jobs or republican jobs, i'm fighting to create american jobs. >> today the obama re-election campaign released it's third add hitting mitt romney for insulting and lying about 47% of americans. >> 47% of people will vote for the presi

and solutions being offered by the romney, ryan ticket and do they have the country's answers? because the donald has been less than silent on the abysmal obama record he like so many on the right have been subjected to ridicule by the president and his team out of chicago. >> can the president do more to show leadership on being transparent with regard to documents, records, his own background that's another underlying theme the campaigns are going at. >> are you talking about donald trump? >> i know he has been taking flack lately but no one is happier no one is prouder to put this birth certificate record to rest than the doll nald. >> looking to continue to bring up is college records. >> the donald trump question which i think he is the one who brings it up the most. >> last year at this time on this very weak end we finally delivered justice to one of the world's most notorious individuals. (applause) >> joining me now we have a studio audience let's welcome the one and only donald trump. >> great to see you. how are you? >> it is honored to be mentioned by the president so often

, ohio. paul ryan holding a town hall in the clinton county courthouse. >> to politics now. we know president obama and mitt romney will face off for the debate tomorrow. their wives have already gone head-to-head in the kitchen for "family circle's" annual cookie bake-off. michelle obama's white and dark cookie beat michelle obama's m&m cookie by 287 votes. "family circle" insists it's been a bellwether in four of the last five elections. paul ryan is singing a jingle for dubuque, iowa, ham. >> how about a song? one, two, three, ♪ dubuque, dubuque i was singing the song, the ham used to dance around a little bit? >> mitt romney has a new york yankees connection, turns out. sort of. romney's blind trust sold its financial stake in the yes network. >>> a new social media campaign asks you to listen to the boss. bruce springsteen is lending his name at "image" to support guy marriage. the goal is to pass new laws in maine, iowa and new hampshire. >>> k the white house glowed a lovely color of pink last night. it's estimated more than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cance

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decision to pick paul ryan as his running mate and the impact his role could have on the future of medicare. she also told rachael that democrats could take back control of the house. take a listen. >> we have been working very hard to get to a place to put the house in play. we did that by, say, late spring, early summer. but when august 11th, mark that date on your calendar, when ryan was chosen, that made a very big difference because medicare, medicare, medicare, the three most important issues in the campaign, that issue was clarified, focus was on it. we could not lose the debate about medicare because if we do, forget democrats and republicans, medicare is gone. >> don't miss the "the rachel mw show." >>> rebel forces attacked the capital and reported the deadliest day of the civil war there. 340 people are reported to have died in fighting across the country. in damascus, a white van exploded outside a military command center. a skd bomb went off ten minutes later inside the compound and gun battles went on for hours. four guards were killed and 14 others injured in that at

about the campaign race's final two debates. i asked anna if paul ryan's remarks are part of the deliberate strategy. >> i don't know if it's a smart strategy, but i know it's a realistic strategy. obviously they are down in the polls and they have to do retweaking. i think he is being humble and realistic, and he's admitting there have been mistakes made, and so i think it's a good thing. they do need to eat a little humble pie and admit that things are not all rosy. >> peggy said it was crucial. do you see the debate is crucial? >> the first debate is the only debate that matters at this point. if romney cannot hit obama with what he has to say in the first -- these have not been gaffes by mitt romney. this is mitt romney. this is not the first time he talked about not caring about people less fortunate than him. he said he was not concerned about the very poor. this is not like a misstep. it's a consistent theme with him and it's up to the voters to see if they agree with him. it's not gaffes, it's him. >> how does mitt romney have to appear. does he have to be aggressive? wha